The Morning After
by LavenderStorm
Summary: One-shot. Aftermath of Soubi's punishment at Seimei's hand the night before. Third story in "Periods of the Day" series. Rated for some blood.


**A/N: I felt like going into some descriptions and details in this story, so if a little blood disturbs you, don't read.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Soubi nor Seimei.

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**The Morning After**

As the room slowly brightened, Agatsuma Soubi, Fighter of the Beloved pair, slowly cracked an eye open. Where was he…Staring at the white ceiling above, memory of the previous night came rushing back. As the dim dawn sunlight streamed into the room, Soubi suppressed a shiver. Not at the chill, though it was cold enough, with the open window in the room letting in the cool autumn breeze, but rather, at the memory of his Sacrifice's last words to him before he had retired for the night. "_Disgusting._ _Clean up all the blood before you sleep. Oh, and Soubi," his Sacrifice had paused at the doorway, a careless smirk on his lips. "Sleep on the floor tonight." _

Since those were the orders that his Sacrifice had given just before he had retired to the adjacent room (a guest room kept specially for his Sacrifice, courtesy of Ritsu-sensei), it explained why Soubi was currently lying on the cold, hard wooden floor when there was a perfectly good bed just a few feet away. After all, for Soubi, Seimei's words were absolute – akin to that of God's…Gingerly, he pushed himself up from the floor, reaching for the pair of spectacles in the pocket of his violet coat, which he had used as a blanket the previous night. As Soubi sat up, the coat fell away from his naked torso, exposing his bare skin to the chill of the early morning autumn air. Glancing down at his pale chest, he clinically noted that the wounds he had sustained the previous night had mostly healed, leaving behind only faint pink marks on his skin that would be gone in a few hours. As compared to what it had looked like last night…

_Crimson red slashes, some of which were still bleeding, criss-crossed the pale, white skin. It resembled a piece of abstract art, almost like one of those paintings that Soubi had briefly come across in art class, supposedly portraying in its stark, bold simplicity some kind of intense emotions. Save this time the artist was one Aoyagi Seimei, the medium used, Soubi's viscous, sticky blood, the canvas, his smooth, pale skin, and the emotions reflected was likely one of dark, cruel and sadistic enjoyment. Idly tracing the wounds with one finger, Soubi noted that the most excruciating painful cut had missed bisecting his left nipple by mere millimeters .Although it _had _sliced through his sensitive areola, and extended all the way to his mid-riff. That long, bleeding diagonal gash was the most prominent one on his torso, one of the few that had yet to start healing, since it was one of the last wounds inflicted in the torturous two-hour long session…_

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In the guest room, Aoyagi Seimei, Sacrifice of the pair named Beloved, stirred. Eyelids framed by long eyelashes fluttered open as he rolled over and checked the time on his cell phone. 6.30 a.m. Hardly a sane time for any normal person to wake up at. Only six hours had passed since Seimei had gone to bed – he needed a couple more to be fully functional. Idly, he wondered if he should get up now, head home and prepare for school. And of course, see his cute, beautiful Ritsuka at the same time. But he decided against it. There were some things that were still bothering him about the fight that previous evening, and he intended to check it out. Perhaps he'd get Soubi to assist him…he was absolutely certain that the wounds Soubi had suffered at his hands the night before would in no way deter him from rendering his services, were Seimei to order it – he had trained Soubi well. His mind flashed back to a scene from the previous night, when Soubi had oh-so-submissively struggled to stay still even as his body trembled involuntarily…from the pain inflicted by Seimei…

_Holding the sharp, metal blade at an angle, Seimei had paused for a short time as he pondered where to place his next cut. Before him, his Fighter stood docilely, with his head bowed, hands clasped tightly behind him, silver blonde hair flipped back over his shoulders so as not to obstruct Seimei's view. On his pale, leanly muscled chest, blood steadily dripped from a number of cuts, trickling in tiny rivulets and beads over the smooth skin. So far, all the cuts had been in one direction and relatively shallow, but Seimei had decided to change that. His lips had lifted slightly at the corners as he reached out to place the next cut in the opposite direction. This time, the knife had pierced more deeply than before, until Seimei eventually angled the blade at a more horizontal angle. Then, Seimei had wielded the blade expertly, drawing it diagonally across Soubi's chest, parting the flesh, his action agonizingly slow. Soubi had trembled violently then; Seimei could see that he was biting his lips harshly so as to restrain his cries of pain. And after a whisper from Seimei for him to "Stay still…", Seimei had delighted in watching Soubi struggle even more to follow his orders…_

All in all, it had been a pretty entertaining night for Seimei, almost enough to relieve his annoyance at not being able to return home to be with Ritsuka…his beloved little brother…Maybe he could return earlier later that day, if Soubi fulfilled all his tasks promptly. As Seimei mentally ran through a list of things he had to complete, a wave of drowsiness hit him…he yawned and started to fall asleep again. His last thoughts were of idle amusement, wondering how much pain Soubi would suffer if he had to do some of his tasks with partially healed wounds on his body…_maybe next time_…

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Thankfully, Seimei had not forbidden him to heal himself this time, which meant that he had been able to make use of a word-spell to accelerate his healing process. Soubi shuddered at the memory of the time when Seimei had refused to allow him to speed up his healing, and he had had to attend physical education class with wounds all over his body. Fortunately, this was the Seven Moons Academy after all – a school for fighters. There had not been too many questions about the marks on his body since almost everyone sported some injury or another…participating in physical activities had been _torturous _though…Every stretch and leap that he had had to do had aggravated his half-healed wounds. By the end of the lesson, he had torn open some of them, leaving bloody streaks all over his T-shirt…Soubi could still remember the shocked expressions on the faces of both the usually indomitable teacher and the school nurse. Of course, he had refused adamantly to tell them who had done that to him…

Soubi forced himself to snap out of his day-dreaming. Since Seimei had stayed over, he had to make sure that his breakfast was ready before he woke or Seimei would be mad. Rising to his feet stiffly, he gathered up the various articles that comprised his school uniform from nearby hangers before heading to the bathroom – he'd better take a shower first, or Seimei, obsessive about cleanliness as he was, might be displeased. Never mind the fact that the water was likely to be icy cold, or that his long silver-blonde hair would certainly not dry in time for his first lesson, all that mattered to Soubi was his Sacrifice's wishes, Seimei's likes and dislikes. For that was all he had – all he had lived for and by this past year, since that fateful day when Seimei had carved those seven letters on his skin…

As the sun slowly rose higher in the early morning sky, illuminating the land with its increasingly bright rays, the Sacrifice slumbered on peacefully as the Fighter struggled to prepare a proper breakfast – it was just a typical morning in the life of Aoyagi Seimei and Agatsuma Soubi, following a long night…

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Prequels:

1) The Evening Before

2) Long Night

Sequel:

3) Daytime

**Whether you enjoyed this story or otherwise, please review and give me feedback!:D**


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